Comments on: Forged in the Bowels of Corruption: Pt 1http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341
Tue, 20 Mar 2018 01:07:58 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4By: Michael Anthonyhttp://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341&cpage=1#comment-70370
Tue, 21 Nov 2017 21:50:16 +0000http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341#comment-70370Most interesting, I have been there and done that. About 3 years ago after months of seeking a faculty post with my focus in the Caribbean and hoping for an opportunity in Trinidad and Tobago I did get an interview. Met with a search team out of UTT which lasted about an hour. About six weeks later I had a call indicating UTT was prepared to make me an offer. My excitement was almost uncontained, but kept it controlled being at another academic institution in the sates. About an hour and half later had another call which I was told to expect. To my surprise the follow-up call was not an offer but instead I was told by the party at the other end of the line ‘UTT could not pay me’. They could have kept the call. In spite of, I am still hopefully. Coming soon TGIFA.ORG
]]>By: Kianhttp://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341&cpage=1#comment-70364
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 15:04:47 +0000http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341#comment-70364“However ponderous, however humourless and unsophisticated he was, Smith had run a successful emerging African country and, although the whites were the main beneficiaries, there was increasing prosperity among the black population.

Above all there was a sound, intelligently managed economy, free from the post-colonial blight of corruption”

I am not sure about the relevance this excerpt of Rhodesian history, is to our democracy here but I surmise that it has something to do with either our similar colonial past or white people’s superiority in maintaining order and organizational rule. Or Maybe it is an incremental supplement to Mamoo’s self appointed Indian supremacy and his richer than thou concentration of Indian wealth power over Africans. However intended, I find these arguments unhelpful to understanding our own dilemma here. If I might spare a moment to tell Mamoo that I have a member of my family who work in very close collusion with Indra Nooyi who as President of PepsiCo is doing a fantastic job and I’m sure does not subscribe to the idiocy of Mamoo’s propagandistic illusions.

However intended, I feel that conversations remain more relevant when our intentions are towards the topic of discussions, rather than showcasing ethnic superiority over Africans.

]]>By: Kianhttp://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341&cpage=1#comment-70363
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 10:49:20 +0000http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341#comment-70363There are those who question idealism. Idealism is a noun, which means it is ‘thing’ that most civilizations were created from or formed by hoping to reach a philosophical consensus by which most or all people can live by. Earlier forms of idealism were taken from the works of men like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. It therefore can be described as making contributions to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. Those are the ideals from which laws were generated, passed in constitutions and accepted as paths for mankind to live in harmony. Without idealism or relegating to quixotic solutions is the surest way towards societal breakdowns.

So, it is with this in mind I reply to my friends who think that idealism should take a backseat to expediency. When solutions are based purely or mostly on expediency, it cannot last or be expected to be solutions to achieve narrow ends. This is what I believe the gist of Dr Cudjoe’s article is all about. In Trinidad we practice the politics of metooism. Which means that those coming from behind, expect to get (from government) what those in prior years got, without taking into consideration the circumstances that existed before their coming.

Before educational competition began by the two major ethnic groups, education was considered a major requirement towards development by men like Lord Harris and John Jacob Thomas. The latter being a man who rose from slavery to being one of the most important educator this country has known. Today, that same requirement (educational) is seen as an advantage for one group (Indians) to upend ethnic educational superiority. Recent history will confirm that when the UTT concept was put into practice, most Indian professionals saw it as a means (by the PNM) to fast forward African education, thereby making educational contests fairer. When the UNC was handed the reins of government people like Gopeesingh and Karim wasted no time in making sure that this (contest) did not reached its desired ends (Africans to catch up with Indians).

If we are to go forward as a people, we have to go back to principles by which Lord Harris and John Jacob Thomas spent their adult lives trying to accomplish – trying to make society responsive to the challenges we face to make our country a better place to liv, work and build families. This way we can build a brighter and better future for our nation’s image to promote a cultural identity.

]]>By: Mamoohttp://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341&cpage=1#comment-70362
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 04:08:20 +0000http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=10341#comment-70362Nobody is looking at superior or inferior when it comes to race. But the lessons of history is there for the none so blind. Forbes Burnham was one of the most brutal dictators the Caribbean ever had. He stole, kill and sent packing over 300,000 Indo Guyanese. I met some of them who escaped the brutal dictator. I met a man who told me an Indian woman jumped into a latrine to escape being raped, she left Guyana and is basically none functional because she was so traumatized. As for him he show me his hand where the bullet went through and only escaped death because his mother threw a blanket over him and covered him. They came shouting “kill the coolie”. He was raise by his grandmother, he had no bitterness towards those who did this to him, rather his voice indicated to me he felt sorry for them. I stayed by a Guyanese man who would wake up at certain times in the night, he told me he was part of the village patrol and he had to be up at certain times of the night to stand guard.

But we had our own little dictator here thanks to an election his brutality was stopped. Upon assuming the Primeministership Patrick Manning made a deal with Abu Bakr that saw over 300 kidnappings of indo businessmen and their traumatized families. Of course all was not done by Abu henchmen. But quarries were given to Abu…
Manning himself said the kidnappings were targeted. They had a list they were working from.

Folks an education is suppose to make you a productive member of society. You are suppose to protect your fellowmen, and lift the standard of living for all. Not use your influence to foster dictatorship.